Money Blue Book

I love using eBay. I’ve been a busy eBayer since the online auction service opened for business in the late 1990’s, and over the years I’ve gotten my bargain grubby hands on quite a few deal finds. However, back in the beginning there was less competition among buyers and sellers vying for a piece of the lucrative eBay pie. With less auction and savvy awareness on the part of the general public during eBay’s infancy, deals were easier to be had.

Back in the good old eBay days, one of my best past success stories was bidding and winning online auction sales for D.C. Metro SmarTrip cards. People in the Maryland, Washington D.C. and Virginia metro area use prepaid magnetic debit cards to ride the subway train to work in our nation’s capital. When the SmarTrip cards were first implemented on the subway system in 2004, I think I was one of the early few to immediately turn to eBay to buy subway cards in bulk denomination for maximum arbitrage savings. At the time, the whole concept of buying subway cards was still in its infancy so there was less competition for them online. Most of the SmarTrip sellers were federal government workers looking to unload their government issued cards to eBay buyers and make some money in the process (they probably weren’t authorized or permitted to do that of course). But regardless of the legality or morality on their part, I was happy to buy them. Since I worked in D.C. at the time and commuted downtown on a daily basis, I needed a huge supply of them at all times. Due to the lack of bidding competition, I frequently won for 40-60% off the face value, although I had to bid on higher value cards to maximize my cost savings. For example, for cards valued at $300, I usually only paid $140 for them. My auction bidding success lasted a few brief years, but as the years went by and the number of worldwide eBay users grew, many of the inherent market efficiencies were ultimately plugged up, causing bid prices to soar and eBay savings to become less and less. Nowadays, it’s hard to get any type of significant savings anymore as eBay auction prices usually get bid up to or close to the fair market value, negating the awesome bargains I use to enjoy.

By Bidding For Misspelled eBay Phrases and Keyword Typos, It Is Still Possible To Get Great Deals and Bargains

Over the years, eBay has continuously modified its search algorithm and implemented system changes to weed out arbitrage type opportunities that some suggest hurt the integrity of the eBay search engine and business model. However, while eBay may try to take measures to ensure bidding fairness and listing accuracy, it can really only do so much. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. There will always be absent minded people out there, and there’s little that big brother eBay can do to stem their perpetual cluelessness. Which brings me to the purpose of this article - One very interesting area of eBay that is still prone to arbitrage profit and bargains is the area of eBay typos and eBay auction spelling mistakes. While there are many factors that influence how an eBay product listing ends such as auction title, description, timing, number of eBay reviews, and the type of photos displayed, one critical human element that is often overlooked by sellers is spelling accuracy.

The power of eBay is that it is currently the most popular and dominating online auction service in the world and has the capability to bring in a significant number of buyers and sellers together into one open marketplace where products can be exchanged for maximum gain and efficiency. Because of the sheer number of potential buyers and sellers, as well as eyes and ears so to speak, there is little room for inefficiencies to flourish. Even expensive laptop computers valued at $3,000 for example that start the bidding process at $1.00 will absolutely bid up to its fair market value by the close of the bidding period. Even the concept of eBay auction sniping is already known by most people. Sniping, or the process of using special software to fire in your online auction bid at the very last second to keep bidding war competition to a minimum used to work well in the past, but nowadays it seems like everyone uses it on every auction as well. Thus the notion that one can somehow catch an arbitrage or significantly underpriced deal now as a buyer is difficult due to the inherent scale and efficiency of today’s eBay market place.

But this all changes drastically when the market place is altered in significant fashion. When the auction seller places an auction advertisement and fails to ensure correct spelling in the auction title or description, particularly for key phrases that denote what he or she is selling, this creates an inefficiency that is just begging to be exploited. This is a critical mistake because such typos prevent prospective bidders and buyers from being able to find your auction at all. Misspelled keywords in the auction title essentially eliminate the buyer and seller equilibrium usually inherent in eBay. Because the vast majority of prospective eBay buyers find their item by typing in keywords into the eBay search form, such spellings errors have the potential to make or break the final sale. However, due to the sheer size of the eBay marketplace, even such spelling error bargains are bound to be snapped up eventually, but there are simply more spelling mistake and eBay typo deals to be had than that with correctly spelled and properly placed auctions ads.

It’s clear eBay has at least recognized that spelling mistakes and typos are causing a portion of sellers to wind up with much fewer bids and lower bid values than they ought to have. While they have permitted a substantial number of eBay buyers and bidders such as myself to take walk away with nice bargains we would otherwise not have gotten, eBay doesn’t seem entirely committed to stamp out this little shopping loophole. While eBay has installed spell checkers and automated keyword suggestion tools into their online auction software, there is only so much the company can really do to force absent minded sellers to comply. Many grammatically-challenged eBay merchants simply continue to disregard the importance of spelling accuracy. Auction listings containing multiple spelling errors and typos continue to litter the eBay marketplace, to the delight of many potential bidders who can find them. I’ve been on both sides of the eBay auction, as both a seller and as a buyer. While there’s nothing quite like being the seller and experiencing the excitement of registering that first successful auction sale for the first time, I mostly prefer to be the auction bidder and buyer. I love stumbling onto great deals that others have overlooked. These days, my best eBay finds and bargains come from the spelling error misfortunes of others.

A Few Examples Of Critical eBay Spelling Errors and Auction Typos That Will Cause The Seller To Lose A Lot Of Money But May Allow The Buyer To Profit

The unfortunate part of this is that there are thousands of eBay sellers that are going to lose a lot of money due to lost profits caused by lower final bids as a result of less bidding competition brought about by fewer people being able to locate the auction through misspelled keywords. With less bidding competition is the creation of an inefficient marketplace where bidders can purposely keep bid prices low, resulting in anemic final bid prices. However, the reality is that one man’s loss is another man’s gain. It’s not our fault that others fail to properly title or write their ads to maximize their own business revenue. As buyers, we shouldn’t feel guilty when we can take advantage of a great bargain or deal find. After all, we don’t feel guilty when we haggle at a bazaar, flea market, or any type of barter exchange, so why should any of us feel guilty about being able to snap up savings due to someone else’s incompetence?

One of the best, most common, and perhaps most expensive example of critical eBay auction spelling errors is the keyword - “diamonds”. Strangely enough, many people still incorrectly spell it as “dimond“, without the letter “A”. Despite the existence of free eBay provided spell checkers and a myriad of warnings and alerts, many sellers continue to list incorrectly spelled diamond related products for sale. For the sneaky bargain hunter, this is a lucrative gold mine, or a diamond mine for that matter, of great deals. Of course, there’s always the problem of discerning fake diamond products from the real gems. eBay and other auction sites are filled with lots of internet scams and online frauds.

As for myself, I’m currently in the market for a new GPS system for my car. My old handheld global positioning map system is currently being loaned to a friend of mine so I’ve decided to search eBay for any special GPS deals. As you may or may not know, GPS systems are rather expensive and can range anywhere from $200-$500 depending on brand and model. One popular GPS brand is Garmin. A quick search for the incorrectly spelled “Gamin“, “Garmen”, or “Garnin” yields a few nice results, in the eyes of mighty bargain hunters like myself. I’ll be sure to keep my eyes peeled for any good GPS misspelling deals in the near future.

Another common spelling mistake is for the word “monitor” as in LCD or computer monitor. A couple of common spelling errors can be created with the simple juxtaposition of a few letters to come up with “montoir“, “montor”, and “moniter”. I suppose it’s a common mistake, but it can be a costly one for the seller, especially if he or she is forced to uphold the sale. Computer monitors aren’t cheap! For fun, you can also try entering things like “Playstatoin” or “Playstaton” for the Sony Playstation - you’re bound to get a few intriguing bargains.

Instead of manually coming up with common typos and eBay spelling errors, you can also try using online software programs like Fat Fingers to help you come up with misspelling ideas for your target keyword. There are a whole slew of other similar eBay-minded programs online that can help you take advantage of common spelling mistakes. If you’re lucky, you might score a great deal too! The scecret has been out for some time but as long as there are absent minded poor spellers out there, there will be great deals for us buyours, I mean buyers.

My online messaging routine was doing fine for a while. Every morning I would check my Yahoo e-mail account for messages, and then go about my regular work day, periodically checking back for personal and business related messages. Since I forward and consolidate all of my personal, work, and blog business related emails to one account with Yahoo, I have one easy point of access to my messages - essentially one well oiled emailing machine. Of course, there was always the occasional spam, but that was usually manageable - until now - until the Nigerians struck, and struck hard.

Spammers and Scammers Are Relentless And They Can Afford To Be - Sending E-Mail Lures With Scam Bait Doesn’t Cost A Thing

Starting very recently, I’ve been receiving nearly 20-30 spam related messages everyday. I have no idea how they are effectively evading my spam filters, but they are. These spam messages are driving me absolutely crazy and are irritating to say the least. But one can’t help but find some amusement from the content of these desperate messages. These spam letters that flood the web are mostly from the poor African country of Nigeria - sent by notorious computer users who run well documented Nigerian 419 scam operations. You know when you receive one of these classic Nigerian 419 spam letters as they are pretty recognizable. Usually the Nigerians use very flowery, British style English comprised of exaggerated legalese-type terminology to make the content appear more legitimate. However, oftentimes their lame use of the English language borders on comical and their complete lack of understanding regarding American and western male and female names makes me chuckle. For some reason they have a habit of using the funniest and oddest fake first and last names - using common first names as last names, and improperly matching up male and female names - like Peter John, Mark Donna, or Smith Karen for example - frequently it’s pretty obvious they’re fake names as the names simply sound unnatural. But then again, these Nigerians and African spammers are not incredibly bright. They may be criminally and diabolically clever, but they are not exactly all that well educated or worldly. They resort more to the law of probability and the long held truism that “a sucker’s born every minute”. By casting a very wide net, even their ill conceived attempts may net at least one or two potential biting fish in the long haul.

It’s not just the crazy Nigerians either, spammers and scammers live in other countries as well - all beyond the reasonable reach of established arms of law and justice. Most of them approach the spam and scam business utilizing the same typical shot gun approach. Since the Internet affords the ability to send out many messages at relatively little to no cost, they are able to send out massive amounts of spam emails to potential victims with one click of the mouse or a single tap of the keyboard. Perhaps 75% of their spam messages will be screened out by domain or email spam filters, and perhaps another 90% of those that don’t get filtered out are ultimately deleted by the recipients immediately. However, a small percentage will still get through and a small percentage will be read, and an even smaller percentage will ultimately fall for the scam bait. While the chances of an unwitting recipient acting acting upon the message and replying back to the Nigerian scammer are slim, some people still do.

Frankly, these scammers from Nigeria, Eastern Europe, and South East Asia have nothing to lose - the scams are usually quite profitable for them. Take the Nigerians for example - they live in a wasteland of a country - with a corrupt government, lax law enforcement, high unemployment, with little semblance of an economy. Any amount of money they can siphon from American citizens or that of other western countries is worth the effort and time. To them, there is simply very little risk involved since their government and police enforcement officials either turn a blind eye to their antics, don’t care, or are simply too financially overwhelmed to take on the challenge of cracking down on computer crimes.

Although I may have some sympathy for the poor economic lives the scammers must live in their native countries, their criminal attempts at trickery often leave me coldly and sarcastically insensitive. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t amuse myself with their lame shenanigans. That’s why I sometimes enjoy reading spam emails - they’re funny. They really amuse me - like something from the funny pages. Today I received an email from poor “Madam Ruth Moses” who addressed me as “dearly beloved in Christ”, stating that she was “suffering from a cancerous ailment” and that she was “married to Engineer Gilbert Moses an Englishman who is dead”. Apparently they lived a life of charity of helping the “down trodden and the less-privileged individuals”. Evidently she now has $4.4 million US dollars in some African bank due to a large financial payout stemming from her husband’s untimely death in a car accident that she is unable to retrieve, and is willing to give me a 25% cut if I assist by providing her a “small process charge” to help facilitate the release. Oh how generous and noble of Mrs. Moses - especially since she enjoys citing biblical passages in her message to me, for as she puts it “The Almighty will fight my case and I shall hold my peace.” Comical, yet pretty pathetic. If I ever had the chance to meet any of these spammers, I’d laugh at their face for 15 minute straight.

I Am Now Very Distrustful and Extremely Paranoid About Doing Business Or Any Online Communication With Residents From Proven Scam and Spam Prevalent Countries

Unfortunately, what scammers with their spam emails have done is made me very distrustful of anyone from traditional scam haven countries. The list of countries mainly stem from poor, and legally and socially undeveloped countries like Nigeria, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, and Indonesia, but it also covers countries like Russia as well. Many of these third world countries either have corrupt governments or are constantly experiencing tribal warfare and upheaval that prevent stable law and judicial enforcement to flourish. But as of now, I would never do any online business with people who live in those countries at the present time. I’ve already been tricked once and after my one time experience of getting scammed during my post college years, I’ve learned my lesson. It may not be politically correct, but I think it’s a smart business move to refrain from doing any online or Internet transactions with anyone from these countries - the financial risks are simply too high. My purpose for rejecting individuals from these countries is not to stir up racial, ethnic, or even social controversy, but simply to protect my own financial interests, so please don’t take offense. I would gladly do business with them and so would millions of American merchants on eBay, Craigslist, and other online stores if only fraud wasn’t such a huge and rampant problem in those parts of the world.

I run a few small online eBay and weblog businesses (take a look at my ebay business guide), and these days the quickest way to turn me off and cause me to reject your business proposition right off the bat is to say you’re from Africa - it frankly doesn’t matter which country in Africa. I have yet to meet a single African country (aside from South Africa, although that’s debatable as well) that I trust to do business with. The rampant scams and spams that originate from that continent have turned me into a hyper-vigilant person. Most African countries simply have undeveloped legal systems that prevent merchants or publishers like myself from being able to bring legal action to effectuate contractual disputes. That is why the U.S. is such a great country. Despite our over-lawyered and lawsuit-happy society, we have a perfected legal system that ensures legal disputes have a forum to be heard and resolved. Scammers and spammers have a much more difficult time operating their illegal craft here in this country. A few foreign rotten apples have really ruined the whole international tree and apple pile, but online entrepreneurs like myself have to do to what it takes to protect ourselves and our interests. It may seem racist and prejudicial to rule out a whole segment of the world’s population, but it’s not - it’s just smart business.

Despite eBay’s attempts to provide it’s buyers and sellers with more purchase and selling protection, many if not most major eBay Power Sellers now refuse to ship to certain dangerous countries, such as Nigeria or Indonesia. A sizable number of merchants have even ruled out shipping to any foreign destination due to the prevalence of scammers living overseas where they are shielded from prosecution. It’s terrible what these online and Internet scammers have done to the whole industry. These days as I browse through business propositions and offers I receive over email on a regular basis, even African sounding surnames, African cities (like Lagos, scam capital of Nigeria), African banks, and anything to do with Africa trigger glaring red flags when I evaluate Internet commerce deals. So if your online business is based in Africa, I’m sorry, but I don’t want to do business with you at this time. Perhaps someday when your government stabilizes and sets up a legal system that will protect and ensure my legal and contractual interests I will consider it. But until then, too bad so sad. If you are a legitimate African, East European, or South East Asian business, don’t be offended if established western and far east Asian businesses demand strenuous proof of identity and extra evidence of trustworthiness before doing business with you.

All About The Nigerian 419 Advance Fee Fraud - Also Known As The Check Cashing Scam (For Those Not Familiar With What They Are)

The classic Nigerian 419 scam has been around for a long time but scam success didn’t fully take off until the advent of the Internet and the World Wide Web. The country of Nigeria has all the essential ingredients that has enabled it to become the worldwide hub of Internet and computer crimes. The country is not only dirt poor, but unemployment is incredibly high, and the government is hopelessly corrupt and incompetent. The country also happens to be an English speaking nation - making it all the more easier for select scammers to communicate with their primarily English speaking victims all over the world. The 419 numeric designation refers to the Nigerian Criminal Code that covers the crime of fraudulently obtaining property through false pretenses. Unfortunately the 419 criminal code is a mockery of the Nigerian legal and criminal enforcement system as the laws in that country are frequently ignored and flaunted, thereby allowing scammers and spammers to run rampant with little fear of accountability. The Nigerian 419 scams have recently developed into a world wide epidemic of Internet fraud crimes that have branched and spun off into other criminal areas such as: charity scams, romance scams, lottery scams, and even threats of violence and extortion scams.

In its most common form, the Nigerian 419 fraud is also known as the Nigerian advance fee scam. The process works by its ability to successfully build trust and emotional confidence with the alleged victim over time, and ultimately persuade him or her to provide confidential financial information or to send sums of money for the possibility of a much larger gain in return. The scam appeals to human greed and the fallible desire to inherently trust others. Through easy and unregulated access to Internet cafe computers and connections, Nigerian scammers have been able to harvest e-mail addresses and contact information to use in their elaborate scams. With potential victim contact information in hand, they usually submit massive amounts of electronic letters to recipients though deceptive means such as spoofed email letters, and cleverly disguised and graphically adorned emails that hide their malicious intent and true source. Oftentimes they’ll write and pretend to be a wealthy heiress or someone who is terminally ill and dying from a disease like cancer, and plead with the recipient for an amount of money in exchange for the promise that they will pay back the amount plus more. Oftentimes they will cleverly claim that they have access to or are in control of a vast financial fortune to which they would be willing to offer the recipient a huge portion as a reward if he or she would provide some upfront money first.

These scam letters are frequently very, very elaborate, as they often disguise the email meta headers to make them seem like they came from legitimate sources such as governmental agencies (like the classic IRS email scam letter for example). Sometimes the headers aren’t even disguised all that well, but the messages still contain content indicative of a mass spam campaign to artificially inflate the stock price of a particular financial investment (penny stock scam spam). Oftentimes they’ll make references to real life current events such as tragic disasters or make reference to official business developments such as laying claim to being connected with some wealthy foreign business developer in the news. Oftentimes they utilize fake phone numbers that can’t be tracked down. One common ploy of the advance fee scam is to send the recipient a fraudulent Western Union or fake personal check for a very large amount of money, and write to the recipient to apologize for the excess amount that was sent and ask for a portion back in supposed good faith. The recipient, thinking he or she will get to keep a large portion for their services, deposits the fake check and cuts out a legitimate sum of money that he or she then sends to the scammers. In time, the check will undoubtedly bounce, forcing the recipient to swallow his or her losses with the bank - an unfortunate result that still happens despite attempts to thoroughly educate the public on the prevalence of Internet scams and how they work.

Anyone can make money online with eBay by selling products, but you have to be prepared to put in a lot of time and effort doing manual labor, packaging, and shipping goods. If you are willing to put your back into it, you can easily make quite a bit by buying the most popular consumer products from wholesellers and selling them on eBay. So many people claim to offer wholesale lists on eBay, but don’t even bother with them. Their sources are useless and the majority will try to swindle you. It’s a dangerous world out there so first, a few general rules of caution to abide by that will save you plenty of time, money, and headache. Unfortunately, many people disregard these rules every day, and lose thousands of dollars to scammers.

1) Never Buy Products From Anyone Who Wants To Be Paid By Western Union.

If someone asks for payment by Western Union, do not respond to them and avoid them immediately. Their low priced merchandise might be tempting, but it will almost always be a scam. Remember, it is your own responsibility to verify the reputation and legitimacy of the seller. Western Union is not responsible for the non-receipt or quality of any goods or services.

Common Western Union scams include, but are not limited to the following:

1. Seller asks you to pay by Western Union and tells you that the transaction will be safe because you can make the payment out to someone you know, but put the seller’s address on the payment. You are then instructed to tell the seller the money transfer control number (MTCN) of the payment so he can go to Western Union and verify that you have made the payment. Once you receive the shipment, you are then supposed to contact Western Union and change the payment recipient’s name to the seller’s real name so that the seller can pick up the money. It’s a scam everytime because once the seller knows the address or the control number, he can obtain the payment with no problem. Many Western Union agents in foreign countries never ask for proper identification.
2. Seller asks you to pay by Western Union and tells you to make the payment using Western Union’s secret question feature. The way this feature works is the Western Union agent will ask a secret question to whoever is picking up the money, and the person picking up the payment must answer correctly in order to collect the money. It’s a scam everytime because many times Western Union agents, particularly those outside of the United States, do not ask the question, and only care if the person knows the address or control number. Western Union even advises on their website not to rely on the secret question feature.

2) Never Use An Escrow Service Other Than Escrow.com

Escrow is verified and recommended by eBay. Note that Escrow.com will handle transactions in any country in the world, except Romania and Indonesia. Fraud is so rampant in those countries that Escrow.com cannot effectively and safely help you transact with sellers in those countries. What Escrow.com does is ask both the buyer and seller to agree on terms. The buyer must then send the required funds to Escrow.com. Once Escrow.com receives the funds, they notify the seller to ship the goods. Once the buyer receives the goods and confirms that everything is in order, the buyer notifies Escrow.com to release the funds to the seller.

Escrow.com is safe for both buyer and seller because the buyer does not have to release the funds to the seller until they receive shipment and verify everything is correct. It is safe for the seller as well, because even if a buyer claimed non-receipt of the shipment, the seller could provide Escrow.com with the tracking number for the shipment and a shipping manifest showing what was sent and received. In which case, Escrow.com would then release the funds to the seller.

Common Escrow Scams Include, But Are Not Limited To The Following:

1. Seller tells the buyer that they prefer an escrow company other than Escrow.com. The seller gives the buyer the website address of the escrow company they prefer, and indicates that this is the only escrow company they trust. The buyer goes to the website and discovers a cleverly designed site that looks legitimate, with promises of safety and security. It’s a scam because the website is actually owned and operated by the seller or the seller’s associate. Once the buyer sends their money to the so-called escrow company, they will have actually sent their money straight into the hands of the scammer.
2. Seller tells the buyer that they will do the deal securely through SquareTrade.com. It’s a scam because SquareTrade does not act as an escrow service. They do not approve deals or hold funds for anyone. All SquareTrade does is allow eBay sellers to place a SquareTrade seal on their auctions, which shows that the eBay seller is willing to allow SquareTrade to help resolve any future disputes. Anyone who claims that they will use SquareTrade like an escrow service is a fraud. The seller may even send the buyer a spoofed e-mail, one that looks like it came directly from SquareTrade. However, it will be a fake.
3. Seller tells the buyer they will use a shipping service called TNT, and that the buyer should send their payment to TNT, in which case TNT will hold payment until they can inspect and ship the seller’s merchandise to the buyer. It’s a scam because TNT is a shipping company and not an escrow service. They do not hold funds or inspect shipments on anyone’s behalf. The seller may even send the buyer a spoofed-mail, one that looks as if it came directly from TNT, complete with logo and tracking number for the shipment. However, the e-mail will be a fake.

3) Always Request That You Pay A Seller By One Of The Following Methods

1. Credit Card - Safe because most credit card companies will refund your money if you file a proper fraud complaint.
2. Escrow.com - Safe because it protects both buyer and seller, as mentioned in Rule # 2.
3. PayPal - Usually safe for purchases under $2,000, because PayPal will let you use a credit card and will verify the seller’s address, banking information, and identity (do not send money to someone through PayPal if they are listed as “unverified”).
4. Letter of Credit (LC) - Basically, this is like using your bank as an escrow service. For example, you can go to your bank and apply for a letter of credit for the dollar amount you need to pay the seller. Your bank will freeze the funds in your account, and issue a letter to you and the seller’s bank verifying that they are holding the money and that they will transfer the funds to the seller’s bank account as soon as delivery of the goods to you is confirmed.

Do Use Bank Wire Transfers Until Identity Has Been Verified and Confirmed

Be very careful with any seller that requests payment in advance by T/T (telegraphic transfer), also known as bank wire transfer. This is a tricky gray area because some legitimate international sellers do require money by T/T in advance. Sometimes it is for a deposit, and sometimes they want the full transaction amount. Before sending money by T/T, make sure you ask for the following:

1. Seller’s full name,
2. Seller’s address,
3. Seller’s telephone number,
4. Seller’s company name,
5. Seller’s business license number,
6. Seller’s bank’s name and telephone number,
7. A scanned or faxed copy of the seller’s identification card or driver’s license,
8. References from companies the seller has worked with before, preferably in your country.

Tell the seller you need this information to run a thorough background check. You can then use a service such as Intellius.com to run a background check on them. You can also hire an international buying agent in the seller’s country to go to the seller’s physical location and buy the items for you in person, and then ship them to you. Most buying agents will charge a reasonable fee to securely buy for you.

Remember, if the seller is legitimate, he will understand your need for verification and will comply. If the seller hesitates, resists, says he cannot delay anymore, or demands that you send payment as soon as possible, you should become very suspicious and perhaps reconsider the transaction. The seller is very likely a fraud. Do not let greed or haste overcome your common senses.

4) To Assure Sellers That You Are An Honest And Legitimate Buyer, You Should Become Verified

1. Obtain a DnB (Dun & Bradstreet) number. This can be accomplished by applying for a credit builder account at dnb.com. Dun & Bradstreet will verify your company information including company name, address, owners, and ongoing debts (credit cards) or lines of credit.
2. Get PayPal Verified - Open a PayPal account. Once you have one, apply to become a verified premier member. PayPal will verify your address and identification by depositing two small amounts of money into your bank account or credit card. Afterwards, you must verify the total amounts that were deposited to prove that you are the owner of the bank account or card.
3. Get an Alibaba Trustpass Membership - See the list of wholesale sources below for more information.
4. If you are in the United States, become a member of the Better Business Bureau Online.

5) Verify The Seller’s Identity

If a seller tells you that he or his company has a website, run a WhoIs check on the website to see if the seller’s name and address match the internet registrar’s record for the site owner. Beware of anyone who doesn’t have a name and address listed in the WhoIs section of their domain, or of anyone who just recently registered the domain.

6) Develop Your Own Private List Of Trusted Wholesale Suppliers

1. Worldwide Brands - Worldwide Brands carries over 4,000 products and they also provide drop shipping services. That means they can ship products directly to your customers, and you do not need to keep any inventory or perform any shipping. They are an eBay Certified Solution Provider, and they are also a member of the Better Business Bureau.
2. NAWCA - (North American Wholesale Co-Op Association) is another fantastic source for over 100,000 products via their 2,000 distributors, many of which can perform drop shipping for you. The NAWCA was founded by a collective of wholesalers and distributors in 2001. Highly recommended for eBay sellers.
3. Ingram Micro - Ingram Micro is the second largest electronics distributor in the world. They offer very good pricing.
4. Tech Data - This company operates a huge electronics distribution center in the United States.

Buyer and Seller Community Portals - There are excellent wholesale deals to be had here, but because these sites are part of the unregulated wild, wild west of international wholesellers, you have to be extra careful and vigilant in sorting the diamonds from the rough. There are definitely more scammers here than legitimate sellers. Be careful:

1. Alibaba - Alibaba is a well trafficked source for wholesale buyers and sellers to connect on the internet. You should check this site frequently and sign up for trade alerts for whatever you are buying or selling. Your priority should be to deal with Alibaba companies that are Trustpass verified, although that in of itself is not always a sure guarantee of reliability. You can also become an Alibaba Trustpass member yourself. For a small fee, Alibaba will have a third party credit agency contact you to verify your name, address and company identity. Once you are an Alibaba Trustpass member, you will have more credibility, and sellers and buyers alike will take you more seriously. However, do note that scammers are everywhere. Please read my personal scammer experience for more insight.
2. Exporters Singapore - Similar to Alibaba, but this site requires all members to pay a fee after a 30 day trial period. This method helps to keep scammers out.
3. Power Source Online - Power Source Online is a computer parts trading exchange for dealers, brokers and services companies. You can find cheap computer parts and components for resale.

Note: The rest of the communities listed below are similar to Alibaba, with less traffic, but it is advised that you review and join as many as possible to maximize your opportunities.

1. Global Sources
2. EC 21
3. Rusbiz
4. EC Plaza
5. Importers
6. Trade India
7. Offer 21
8. Fuzing

I used to sell products on eBay as a money making hobby and even once attempted to make a side business out of it. It wasn’t easy trying to make profit while at the same time avoiding all the internet fraud and scams out there. While I eventually decided to pursue other ventures, I had a friend who continued to dabble in eBay auctions. Soon enough, he had successfully turned what started out as a one room operation to an impressive one man eBay business machine that engulfed his entire basement. Everytime I stopped by his house I was always startled at the sheer number of brand new Dell laptop and ThinkPad boxes stacked in piles throughout his basement that overflowed into his unoccupied garage.

Through his closely guarded network of online connections (he never disclosed them to me), he was able to secure excellent wholesale deals on hot electronics like laptops, desktop computers, and handheld PDA’s for sale on eBay. His racket continued for several years to my continued amazement as I wondered how he managed to stay so consistently profitable despite rising eBay fees and heavy online competition. One day I finally turned to him and asked him if he was reporting his eBay earnings as taxable income on his federal income tax. He simply smiled and changed the subject. Obviously, the answer was no, thus exposing the secret to his profitable eBay success - tax evasion!

Frankly I don’t really blame him for withholding his eBay profits from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), although I wouldn’t have done that myself. The subject of eBay tax enforcement has been murky for years, mostly due to the lack of proper paper trails and the undeveloped legal area of online auction income. However, the IRS has been recently making moves to crack down on eBay powersellers and auction proprietors to compel the reporting of all business profits. The IRS has also set its taxation efforts on other popular online auction sites like Amazon and UBid, as well as other online hobby market networks like Etsy. I suppose it was about time the almighty IRS dealt with the issue of online auctions.

The IRS Struggles To Compel eBay Sellers To Divulge Their Taxable Earnings

When it comes to reporting their sales income to the IRS, eBay sellers currently operate on the honor system. However, this honor system has resulted in a significant shortfall of under-reported and untaxed auction earnings. Currently, eBay does not report seller stats or submit sales records to the IRS unless it is honoring a subpoena request for information. Many amateur and aspiring eBay entrepreneurs have been able to work the eBay tax loophole for some time and avoid having to pay tax on their profits. It’s a risky game of tax evasion roulette, but the lax enforcement has allowed it to persist for some time.

Recently, the federal government and the IRS has begun to put pressure on major online auction retailers like eBay to cough up user information and sales records, and has even introduced legislation to require market hubs to report personalized sales activity. Of particular taxation concern are the millions of auction sellers who consider eBay as their primary or secondary source of income but fail to accurately report their earnings. Obviously this effort is going to encounter much resistance from sellers and even the auction sites themselves since new tracking policies will undoubtedly result in higher tracking and record keeping costs. The prospect of requiring sites like eBay to track user information based on individual Social Security Number will obviously have the usual online privacy advocates up in arms.

While this taxation crackdown may bug a few eBay sellers, the requirement to report auction income and taxable business earnings is nothing new and has always been around. It’s just only until recently that the IRS finally decided to work harder at plugging up the tax gap to stem tax evasion activities. Mandating the implementation of tools to enforce tax compliance already exists in most employment sectors and the IRS believes the new frontier of online auctions should be no exception.

When Do Proceeds From An eBay Auction Sale Have To Be Reported As Taxable Income?

From the amateur seller who considers eBay to be nothing more than a hobby, to the heavy traffic Powerseller who runs his or her operation as a profit generating business, no one really wants to spent the time to report earnings as income if he or she can help it. However, the IRS instructions make it clear that all sources of income can be taxed, which includes everything from online auction profits, and income from gambling activity, to even illegal “business operations” such as drug dealing and prostitution.

Even if the eBay seller makes a few sales here and there as a hobby, the IRS requires all income to be reported - this includes wages, salaries, tips, gambling winnings, money found on the floor, sweepstakes earnings, business income, and yes, eBay earnings (both hobby and business). The hobby or business nature of your eBay income only becomes an important factor when determining whether your eBay losses and operation costs may be used to offset your eBay income as a business deduction.

The correct question to ask regarding taxability is not necessarily the frequency or dollar amount of the transactions - but rather - did the eBay auction activity result in a net profit? For those who use eBay or other internet auction sites to sell old stuff that’s been piling up in your garage, you probably don’t have to worry about paying income taxes on the proceeds since the cost (the basis) usually exceeds the selling price. Under current tax law, an individual who sells an item online and collects more money than its original purchased value is expected to report that money as income on his or her tax return. Items whose original purchase basis value cannot be determined is typically valued at $0 under current tax law. Thus, it’s advisable for all eBay sellers to get in the proper habit now of retaining their purchase and sales records. You never know when the IRS will flip the switch and go nuts with the eBay seller tax audits. It’s only a matter of time.

Why Does It Matter If Your eBay Selling Is A Hobby Or A Business?

All eBay online auction sellers have a duty to report their earnings and to comply with tax law obligations to avoid an IRS audit. For most casual eBay hobby sellers who occasionally run the online equivalent of the garage or yard sale, they usually are not obligated to report their sales. That’s because for most online garage or yard type sales, the items sold are usually personal household items purchased over the years and used. As such, the resulting selling prices are almost always lower than the original purchase basis price. The exception occurs when the item for sale has appreciated in value. Even if the transaction was intended to be a simple online yard sale, if the item being sold was something like a set of rare baseball cards that had appreciated in value in excess of the original purchase price, the resulting earnings must be reported as taxable income.

The hobby vs. business debate matters when it comes to self employment tax obligations and tax deduction benefits. If the eBay operation is properly regarded as a business, the taxpayer may be entitled to business deductions to write off operating costs. Whether the eBay seller will be treated as running a business will depend on his or her intent to generate profit. Activities such as visiting pawn shops for resale bargains like my friend used to do will likely be seen as demonstrating business intent. Furthermore, when the individual is running a business operation that results in regular profit sales, he or she may also be obligated to pay self assessed quarterly estimated tax payments through Form 1040-ES.

If you lose money pursuing a hobby, you cannot deduct your hobby loss from other income, but you can deduct your expenses up to the amount of your hobby income on your tax return. A hobby loss is a miscellaneous itemized tax deduction, and as such, only the total that exceeds 2% of the adjusted gross income may be deducted.

For more information regarding the differing IRS treatment of hobby and business related activity, check out the IRS explanation. The IRS also provides a good tax information resource for online auction sellers.